There are many products available depending on what you are trying to achieve. I favor the biodegradable fabrics and papers, of which there are several, to plastic ones, but durability must be a part of the equation for most people, so plastics remain popular. You can find it in rolls in the gardening section at most big box hardware stores and garden centers, I like FEDCO because they're an independent Maine co-op that tries to keep prices low and focuses on ecologically responsible products. You can, however occasionally find a good buy at fabric remnant stores, and carpeting stores often have rolls of old carpet or underlayment that has been removed when new is installed that they will gladly give you. Carpeting is not always ideal - it may be treated with flame retardant, rubberized, or peed on - but for serious weed suppression it is very effective and affordable. Just be sure to remove it, or any plastic, before it begins to break down. Also, many of the big box stores have rolls available at reduced prices in fall and winter; for people with large areas to cover and a little storage space, it makes sense to stock up. Larger agricultural suppliers actually offer rolls as wide as 40', which makes covering large areas much easier (with a few extra bodies to help) and reduces the number of pins needed to hold it in place. In addition to weed suppression fabrics help to conserve moisture and wrm the soil. In some cases, you may need to add a light colored mulch on top of the fabric for crops that prefer a cooler environment, and for aesthetic reasons you may want to top it with a more natural looking mulch as well, With plastic-based mulches, covering has the added benefit of educing he damage done by the suns' UV rays, thus prolonging its useful life. Aside from looks and the whole plastic problem, fabric ground covers can also be a haven for unwanted guests - snakes (which I actually welcome, though many gardeners don't) and rodents in particular. Here is a link that might be useful: Garden fabric

After buying 6 bags of finer cypress mulch to hold me until the mulch truck comes with my 5 yards from hardwood, I happened to be reading "The Holistic Orchard" by Michael Phillips, who gives super detailed explanations about why one would not want to use a softwood mulch for fruit trees or garden plants. He's done many experiments and has concluded that ramial mulch from the upper branches and outer/newer growth is incomparable in the way it promotes soil fertility - especially with miccorhizal fungi and such. Here's an excerpt from p. 9: "The arrays of familiar choices at the home and garden center generally do not cut it from a biological perspective. Bark mulch comes from softwood logs for the most part, and therefore comes rich in tannic compounds that once protected standing evergreens from decay.. ..Tannins will suppress healthy growth in garden and orchard alike.....Bulk wood chips in a bag....are a brown rot phenomenon.... Let [it] rot for a few years and it's a whole different story.. -Michael Phillips, "The Holistic Orchard" He then goes on to discuss why you never want to use landscape cloth under your mulch if your long-term goal is healthy, fertile soil. Wet newspapers or cardboard are fine, as many have already mentioned here. The former creates a crust of inhospitable hardpan. Despite the problems with these mulches, they shouldn't impede water flow, as mentioned by nhardy above. I almost wonder if your problem was due to the "weed block".

Your cabbage and artichoke plants look positively wonderful, Xuan! They must love the humidity! I can hardly believe the cabbage is forming heads already! My veggie seeds, besides the radishes, haven't even made an appearance yet! We've gotten plenty of rain, but the raised beds dry out faster than the ground, what with all the wind we've gotten lately... they needed to be watered yesterday, for the first time this season. Due to the different soil types in different garden areas, some beds are still a bit muddy while others are beginning to dry out a bit... we have heavy clay soil in some areas, and others have been amended with compost, peat, topsoil and sand. A few areas are rather gravelly, as well, and I'm constantly picking out small stones and pebbles. The other raised beds by the barn were filled with a combination of topsoil and rotted horse manure... by next year, that soil should have broken down even more and become quite beautiful! I should still add some sand to the beds... maybe some peat, too. When I hear about overly dry conditions and wildfires raging, it's usually in California... I normally think of Florida as being humid and wet! It must be difficult to find edibles to grow that can take both wet and dry extremes... Mulberries sound delicious! When I was a kid, we had a good sized mulberry tree in our yard... we would pick tons of berries and enjoy them with cereal in the mornings! I've got Tithonia "Torch" seeds planted... I can't wait to see the flowers! Your bouquets of them always look so pretty, Cindee! And you're so right... fresh picked home grown fruits and vegetables taste so much better than anything you can buy at the larger grocery stores... most of the commercially grown food, unless it's organic, is rather tasteless! Especially the tomatoes! I look forward every year to harvesting fresh pea pods and green beans, tomatoes and bell peppers, and all the other delicious things we plant! This year, Larry is going to make pickles! Yummy!

The white squiggly lines are caused by the leaf miner, they burrow through leaves. Systemic insecticide is the best treatment but they're frowned on now-a-days. You could just pull off the affected leaves depending on how serious the infestation is. As for the rest, well, sub-tropic and tropic gardens are simply awash with bugs this time of years, I try to get all my vegies under way in winter and mostly harvested before the bugs - I'm currently awash with tomatoes I planted as seeds in trays in May. Also, as you are new to all this I'd suggest you invest in a good garden book, Yates Garden Guide is a very good beginning. B. PS. As for your beetroot, I've never found that easy, however a trace of Boron in the soil before planting helps. You might also consider getting your ph tested, most vegies prefer a slightly alkaline soil.